Living Well North Yorkshire

About

Living Well is a free service that aims to improve the health, wellbeing and independence of adults. We work with people who are isolated, vulnerable, bereaved, lacking confidence, or perhaps on the borderline of needing health and social care services. 

Living Well helps people become:

• more independent
• more involved in their community
• less lonely and isolated

We help people to access their local community, and support them to reach their own health and wellbeing goals. This helps to reduce loneliness and isolation and can help to prevent hospitalisation. 

Living Well works alongside:

• public health services in North Yorkshire
• voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations

Prior to the formation of the new North Yorkshire Council on 1 April 2023, Living Well also worked with district and borough councils in North Yorkshire.

What do Living Well coordinators do?

Living Well is a personalised service, and what the coordinators do varies with each individual. They spend time with people and:

• identify what is important to them, what potential networks of support they have and what their priorities are
• help them make simple changes to their lifestyle and their home environment
• identify barriers and challenges to maintaining or improving their wellbeing and independence, and help to remove those barriers: for example, finding ways for a person to attend a local community group
• work with individuals to achieve their goals

As well as working with individuals, Living Well coordinators are extra eyes and ears in the community. They provide feedback on the quality and availability of low level support in the community to health and care commissioners. They also support the work of the stronger communities team to identify gaps, needs and community assets, providing information for the community directory. They are visible in their local area, developing networks and links with other important services, such as community support officers, GPs, pharmacies, and community leaders.

Who can benefit?

Living Well supports adults who are currently not eligible for ongoing social care support and who:

• are lonely and / or socially isolated
• require support with employment
• have had a recent loss of a support network, including bereavement
• have had a loss of confidence due to a recent change / event 
• require face-to-face information, advice and guidance

This may be older people, or people with physical or learning disabilities, sensory impairment or mental health needs.

People who cannot use Living Well

There are some people who cannot use Living Well, including:

• people who have been assessed as having ongoing care and support needs
• people who are already receiving a health or social care service
• children and young people under 18

Living Well encourages and supports independent living. If a person appears to need repeated episodes of Living Well, they may need long-term or different support.